Halloween Party 2015!

We had a fantastic time at our house with some great friends doing a Halloween party!

The stage is set for the guest coming to the Haunted Mansion Party!

The witches and wizards are all here thanks to Madame Leota's call!

Hitchhiking ghosts will follow you home! 

Happy Halloween from your ghost hosts!

Watch out for Master Gracey!

We had a pretty awesome (and healthy!) spread for the party!

Apples, peanut butter and marshmallows!

Pumpkin seeds!

Welcome to our pumpkin patch!

Pumpkin Carving!

Just bring your death certificate!

Fireplace was all lit up! 

Post pumpkin carving!

Post pumpkin carving in the dark haha!

Our creations!

Duchess (who dressed up as Padfoot) was getting all sorts of love and attention!

Erica was so excited about the Harry Potter cutie!

Roomies reunited! (Minus one...love you Jen!)

Post Party Happiness!

We loved having our friends over. And of course, here is all of our friends being awesome at our game!

New Directions

Gorgeous sunshine at the park!

Hi everyone! Last post I was pretty down. Struggling with post marathon blues and the eternal winter going on. But recently, the sun has come out! The air is warmer and as I've been getting my usual doses of Vitamin D now, my mood has warmed up considerably as well! There is nothing like the hope of spring and great weather to lift anyone's spirits!

What has also helped, is that I am also realizing where and what I am supposed to be doing next. The last two years have been marked by my steady pursuit of my first marathon. From not being able to run for more than 30 seconds, I conquered health problems and mental blocks to overcome my fear of pain from running. In the meantime, I overcame many other fears, literally anything from guns to gardening. So as I am sitting here post marathon, I don't think I'm done overcoming fears yet. However, a new idea has been forming in my head, and let's just say I have a ton of growing up to do.

Ever since I can remember, I haven't given a whole ton of thought to other people's perception of me. All I knew, was I wanted to be different from everyone else. I recognized a culture deficit going on and I didn't want to have anything to do with it. I liked doing my own thing, regardless of what people thought of me.

Now that I'm older and I have great people speaking into my life, I'm recognizing that sometimes, this desire to be different comes off different than I intend. People have said to me that sometimes I seem stand-off-ish, and until they got to know me, they thought I didn't like them. While I brushed off these comments a few years ago, they are coming back up in my head.

I've always said that I'm basically 8 years old at heart (Jared is 5 haha). I say that because I remember that age where everything seemed wonderful and enjoyable and new, and I want that spirit to be with me as an adult. But I recently heard someone say that you need to be 2/3 adult and 1/3 kid, and you have to be careful not to flip it around. So I'm realizing, that my 8 year old self that just wants to be different and satisfy my craving to explore the world is getting in the way of my authentic relationships. And while I won't get to know everyone that I meet "deeply," I never want them to look at me and say, "She doesn't like me." The old me would say, "Well, they should just stick around and find out the truth." But the newer, questioning me says, "But why would they if someone else seems so much more inviting?"

So to sum up what I've been learning, is that maturity is knowing the fine line of being aware of how people perceive you, without letting everyone's opinions determine your personality. If I look at someone and judge whether or not I want to try to be friends with them, I would be naive to think that they don't do the same to me. The truth is, I love making new friends. But the other truth is, I tend to not show that on the outside. The truth is, I want people to know Jesus. But how can they get to know that if I seem selfish or self absorbed?

So I'm going to work on maturing myself, making sure the way people perceive me matches what is actually going on inside. I have no idea how to do this yet, but thank goodness I have a ton of training miles to sort it all out!

Plano Balloon Festival Half Marathon

Hello everyone! Yesterday I had the most amazing time racing with my parents at the Plano Balloon Festival! You can relive my race with me in the video below!



Plano Half Marathon from Madelyn on Vimeo.

It was a great race. Several things factored into making it my best race ever:

1) We had our first cold front move in through Texas! The morning was just cold enough without too much rise in the heat at the end of the race. My hard training this summer in the heat really helped me be able to push hard in the ladder miles so that I was hitting negative splits. My last mile was my fastest!

2) I was racing with my family! Dad and I passed each other a ton and ran the middle of the race together. He was staying steady while I was having my middle-of-the-race slump and he kept pushing me to keep my pace up!

3) I worked on my speed. This training cycle, I spent one run a week working specifically on speed. I worked on pushing my lactate threshold back as well as learning to run on tired legs. I think working on my fast finish training runs really gave me the "umph" I needed at the end!

4) I learned from my last race to not drink as much water! All the sloshing around in my stomach was causing me cramps. Also, I remembered to fuel early and often. I didn't hit the wall in this race because I found Cliff Shot Blocks (which I love so much) to fuel my race!

5) I have the best family and friends! The constant cheering from my Nike +, the love I knew I had during training and the promise of getting to Skype with Jared at the end really contributed to the race day magic. Thank you so much for your support and love for me as I have gone through this journey!

6) The last, yet probably most important, was the special time with God I have gotten during my training. I have had moments where I have just been able to worship him during my runs and unplug long enough to spend quality time with him. You might think I'm weird, but it's true. God has shown me through running I am more capable than I thought and can do more than I could have ever imagined. He doesn't put limits on how he can use me, I do.

Put this all together and I was able to run the entire 13.1 miles without walking, a feat I have never accomplished before. Even on my previous long runs, I take numerous walk breaks to drink Gatorade or eat. Not this time! I ran and ate and everything! I felt so good, so prepped, that when I slowed to drink a tiny sip of water at mile 12, my legs were like, "What's this walking thing you speak of? We don't like it!" I hit my pace goal of being in the vicinity of two and a half hours with a final time of 2:33. I think I could have gotten a  faster time if I would have really been serious about running the tangents.

But you know, that's learning for the next race. :)

Next stop: Disney!

Love Wins

I have had the most draining, excruciating, gut-wrenching couple of weeks. If you have ever looked at your life and wondered why it seems like it’s always one thing after another, you understand how I feel.

I was all excited to go to College Station with Jared on Monday, when I got a call from Jared’s dad that one of his uncles died unexpectedly the night before. It was an uncle Jared was close to; one he grew up with, a fellow pilot and runner in the family. With that news my week saw me very anxious about telling Jared at the right time along with coordinating schedules, hotels and flights. I was so excited to see that side of the family, but got anxious about planning, making sure I had food I could eat, and making sure we planned for every possible scenario that could happen with Jared’s schedule.

But then, our worst scenario became reality. Jared got called in straight for New York. We had to leave the family early. I had to leave Jared early, without a ton of time to actually just be with him. I had to deal with my expectations for this week being so different than reality. I had to navigate the grief I feel for my family, the stresses of my work, the demands and drama of those I volunteer with/for and the sadness of Jared being gone and NOT getting to fly.

I wrote a blog a couple of days ago. It was very angry. I wrote about how I was upset that I had been at so many funerals and not many weddings. I was trying to figure out why that was. I saved it thinking I’d post it the following morning. But when I woke up, it didn’t sit right with me to post it.

I was blaming others for what was going on in my life. I was blaming my circumstances, my jobs and my perceived lack of support system. I was blaming others and how their choices were affecting me.

But to be honest, awful stuff happens. We live in a world, soaked in sin. People’s choices affect those around them all day every day, including my actions.

But, as Jared and I work together through his work schedule, things seem to get better and better. As I talk with my parents and friends and they pray for me and my work, I get the strength to do what needs to get done. And as I stood up to exit at the end of the funeral Saturday, and looked back at the hundreds of people who had showed up because they loved Jared’s uncle, I was awed.

Jared and I love each other enough to be committed, even when we have doubts about our marriage, our career choices and our future. My friends and family love me enough to listen to me vent and pray for me through the times I need it the most. And Uncle Cliff’s love for those around him brought hundreds to celebrate his life to show that God’s love through Uncle Cliff touched more lives than we knew.

I know life gets hard for all of us. We have seasons where things seem dark and dry. We don’t feel God close to us. We feel isolated from those around us as we think, “Who could possibly understand what we are going through?” We are tempted to give up, because we wonder who cares about our seemingly wasted efforts to bring life and love into such a broken world.

But we must remember that just because we can’t feel God close doesn’t mean he’s not there. Just because things are dark doesn’t mean they will be dark forever. You are not alone! God is with you and has placed people around you to go through this season with you. Our efforts are not wasted. They are seeds to bring glory to God in the perfect moment. Hold onto that as you go through whatever you have going on right now. You are loved by the one who created love.

And I read the end of the book. Love wins!

The Cooper Sprint Triathlon!

If you don't want to read, you can watch!


Cooper Sprint Triathlon from Madelyn on Vimeo.


Let's time travel. Not too far, but back to last night.

Whitney came over from Ft. Worth and we got to go pick up our race packets for the Cooper Sprint Triathlon! It's on the beautiful ranch with some gorgeous facilities. We picked up our packets and looked around. They have a rock wall and the pool can be seen from the lobby through a wall that is one entire window! We checked out the transition area, found our spots then went and picked up my bike from the bike shop.

Then Jared and Mason got to the house and we all went out to eat at BJ's. We had a blast just talking and hanging out! We then went home after dinner and got everything ready for the race!

Whitney and I woke up at 5 this morning and had a little something to eat before we hit up the local Starbucks! We then made the trip over to Cooper, found our parking spot and rolled our bikes to the transition area!

Couldn't get into the place without getting body marked. I feel like I will never get the permanent marker off my skin. But we just made our way around the area, getting things set up, going to the bathroom, getting our timing chips and stretching! We then made our way to the pool where the pre-race meeting was. There were tons of people! Once we all finally got in a "line" (more like a mob) to start, the race began!

It took a good while to make it to the pool. Enough time where Jared and Mason found us and we got to talk to them pre-race. But then we made it to the front of the line and in we went!

I was surprised at how fast I was going compared to others once I got in the pool. It was a bit chaotic but I navigated ok, even if slow people were trying to pass even slower people. Then I transitioned pretty well and headed out on the bike! I got comfortable with the bike and the road and went to click into a higher gear, and it was the highest my bike goes! Yay for mountain bikes in a triathlon. But I made do with what I had and just enjoyed the morning. It was really nice. I was passing people on hills, which made me smile, and had minimal problems just biking along. It was a little disheartening having all the road bikes pass me. If I do a triathlon again, I'll need to invest in a road bike for sure!

But then came the run. It was awesome because Jared was at every transition point and was able to cheer me on. He even ran with me down a sidewalk as I started the run portion and it made me smile so much! It was weird on the run at first because 1) my shoes had gotten soaked from my shorts and 2) I was so used to how fast I was going on my bike, I seemed to be jogging really slow! But I settled into a pace, ran through the beautiful park they have on campus and as I turned the corner for the halfway point, there was my personal cheering crowd! All three of them since Whitney had just finished! That gave me the juice to make the last 1.5 miles and Whitney ran with me the last few hundred yards! I love that girl!

All in all, Whitney got second in her age group!!! I got 12th! Reppin' the Aggies!

I really enjoyed doing this race. The run is really what I have felt weakest in when it comes to the choice between swimming, biking and running. Running is what I've been working on, so I felt pretty strong overall! I learned that I enjoy racing, and given the right equipment in the future (when the budget frees up) I will be able to actually be competitive in this race. That makes me pretty excited!

To Whitney, you have been such an inspiration to me and thank you so much for doing this event with me! You bring such a joy to life and I am so blessed to be your friend!

Mason, Whitney, Me and Jared

My results!

Whitney's results!